General

HellCarrier is a 2D shooter seen in topdown view. The player takes the role of a succesfull helicopter pilot, active in a near future. To complete the game, the player must succesfully complete a number of missions of varying type.

The Story So Far

In a future not so far away...
A sudden increase in terrorist attacks strikes Europe with terror. Civilians are hurt and killed and many countries, afraid of the terrorists and unable to stop them, pay enormus amounts of tribute. The terrorists seem to accept this and they cease their actions.

A few years later...
Terrorists strike again. Europe is in flames. Using the money collected during the previous raid, the terrorists have built an enormous network, pursued seroius IT-crimes, gained more resources and built themselves strongholds all over the continent and gathered quite an arsenal of both weapons and soldiers. UN decides that the democratic world must strike back.

Recruits join UN to fight against the terrorists. You are one of them, and now you are off to your first assignment as helicopter pilot. A trial run. What has the war in store for you?

Requirements

Recommended Requirements

PC running Windows

Pentium P200 or equivalent

16 megs system RAM

Soundcard

10 MB harddrive space

Prefered Requirements

PC running Windows

Pentium P400+ or equivalent

32 megs system RAM

DirectX Accelerated Video Card w/2+ Megs video RAM

Gamepad or analog joystick

Soundcard

10 MB harddrive space

Installation

Installation couldn't be simplier. Hellcarrier uses Installation Shield. The setup program copies all files necesary to run and play the game onto your harddrive. It also places icons and shortcuts on your desktop if you want to.

Playing

When you have started the game you will be presented with a short introduction. When done (you can skip it by pressing Esc) you will see the Main Menu.

The Main Menu pretty much explains itself. You can start a new game, load an external campaign, set your options and more. It's adviced that you take a look around the menu, it will make it easier when you need to check/set something.

When you have selected New Game, you must first select the difficulty level of the game. After this is done you have to select your co pilot. The co pilot will handle the gun and the repairing during your missions. His/hers skill in the various fields greatly affect your performace in the game. There are five co pilots available each time you start a new game. They all have different set of skills, some are good with their tools, some are better at shooting. Select the one that agrees with your style of playing.

Steering and manuevering your helicopter can be tricky in the beginning. Take it easy and slow in the start and you will soon feel more comfortable. The game is divided into several missions and each mission has several sub missions. Orders will be given via the mission screen (ENTER) and it's up to you to carry them out. If you need help with the controls, press F1 anytime during the game.

By pressing ENTER anytime during gameplay the mission screen will appear. Here you can read your current oreders. You can also view completed and failed missions. Completed missions are indicated in green, failed ones in red. The mission that is currently in progress will be in yellow. The game will be paused when in this mode. From here you can press 'M' or fire to see the map. ENTER exits to the game.

The map screen shows your position on a rough map. It will also show your current target. The game will be paused when in this mode. From here you can press 'M' or fire to see the map. ENTER exits to the game.

Interface

Ammunition

In the top left coner you can see how many rounds of ammo you have left, how many missiles you've got and which type of missiles you are currently using. As you fire, the values next to the icons will decrease. Letting you know when it's time to find some more ammo.

Radar

The radar helps you to orient yourself and locate allies and enemies. It's situated in the top right corner of the game screen. Buildings and other terrain appear as grey mass. Enemies are red, allies blue and pickups are white. Your vehicle is always situated in the center.
Warning: The radar cannot show soldiers.

The radar image will rotate as you turn your helicopter. The yellow arrow will always point towards north.

Armour Meter

Located in the botton left corner is the armour meter. Her you can see how many armour units your helicopter has left and how many spare helicopters you have. Armour points are indicated using the colored arc and the numeric value in it's centre. You can see how many spare helicopters you have by counting the blue lamps below. When all lamps are out, you're on your last helicopter.

Message Indicator

The message indicator, located beneath the radar, will start to flash when you have recieved a new message on your mission screen. Press ENTER to see the new message.

Controls

Hellcarrier can be played using the keyboard only, or a gamepad or a joystick. You can select your control preferences in the options menu under controls.

Joystick / Gamepad Controls

Thrust/Rotate/Strafe

Stick/Direction Pad

Strafe Left

Button 5

Strafe Right

Button 6

Fire Machine Gun

Button 1

Fire Missile

Button 2

Cycle Missile Type

Button 4

Land/Take Off

Button 3

Release Co Pilot

Button 1

Keyboard Controls

Thrust

Up/Down Arrow

Rotate

Left/Right Arrow

Strafe Modifier

Alt

Fire Machine Gun

Left Control

Fire Missile

Left Shift

Cycle Missile Type

Z

Land/Take Off

Spacebar

Release Co Pilot

Left Control

Special Keys

Mission Screen

ENTER

Help Screen

F1

Game Menu

Esc

Take Screenshot

F2

Weapons

Machine Gun

The machine gun is mounted on the helicopter and is a good allround weapon. The helicopter can carry quite a lot of rounds and more can be collected by pillaging.

Normal Missile

This missile is fired in a straigt line from the helicopter towards any target. It will not detonate until something is hit. Good for taking out stationary targets but hard to aim in the heat of combat.

Heat Seeking Missile

The heat seeking missile is somewhat weaker then the normal missile but it has a built in guiding system. The missile locks onto the nearest target with a heat signature when launched. This makes it ideal in tricky situations when there is no time for aiming. But beware, the missile does not see any difference between friends and foes.

Phosphor Missile

This missile behaves similar to the normal missile when it comes to firing and movement. The diffrence is that the phosphor missile will also detonate when close to a target as well as on impact. When it detonates burning phosphor is spread out over a wide area wreaking great havoc.

Pickups

Throught the game you'll be able to gather supplies scattered around the game world. To pick up supplies, simply land next to the crate and press fire to release your co pilot who will fetch the crate.

Repair The repair crate will allow your co-pilot to repair the helicopter. Depending on your co-pilot's skill, up to 75 points of armour can be repaired.

Distribution

Hellcarrier is freeware, anybody may (and should) play it.
Therefore, you are encouraged to distribute this game (in it's
original form). Feel free to upload to any website or bbs you know,
give a copy to all your friends, etc.. However, this game may not be
included in a compilation or any other kind of commercial package
without the permission from the author. See Credits, on how to contact the author.

Disclaimer

AerotechTelub, Teknisk-IT or Free Lunch Design do not accept responsibility for any effects, adverse or otherwise, that this software may have on you, your computer, your sanity, your dog, or anything else that you can think of. Use it at your own risk. Any trouble, however, has never been experienced with this software.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: I get error messages about missing dlls when trying to start the game. What is this?
Answer: You probably haven't got a recent version of DirectX installed on your computer. The game requires DirectX7.0 or later. You can download DirectX from Microsoft's homepage.

Question: The game runs extremly slow on my computer, how can I speed it up?
Answer: You can speed up the game in many ways. Open the in-game options menu and look under Video Options. Here you can turn various effects on and off and lower the frame rate. A lower frame rate makes the game faster but with less smooth animation. You might have to experiment here to find the configuration that best suits your computer.

Question: Sound works fine but I can hear no music during the missions.
Answer: There is no music to be heard during the missions. Music will only play when in the main menu.

Question: There's a green monster under my bed. What should I do?
Answer: Make sure it doesn't leave! I'll get back to you when I'm going to write a fantasy game.